BY Bill Reagan
You only get one life, one body. Take good care of what you’ve been given.
Take care of your spirit. Most religious traditions teach that there is life beyond our physical existence. If you are fortunate enough to have good health and avoid accident or serious illness, you might live eighty years or so. That’s not very long compared to eternity. It only makes sense to spend some time every day taking care of your spiritual self. Read your Bible, or devotional material. Pray. Meditate. I know. It takes work. But if you really believe there’s an afterlife, it’s worth some time getting ready for it.
Take care of your body. Do you know that a baby can touch the top of her head with her foot? Baby boys can too. Children eat, run, play and get into trouble because their bodies are healthy and growing. Americans face three great health problems, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. These illnesses are, for most people, entirely preventable. We eat too much food. We eat the wrong kinds of foods. We don’t exercise. Your body is a gift. Treat it well.
Take care of your mind. You obviously do that. You are reading the editorial page of the Sunday newspaper. It’s time to stop scrolling through Facebook feeds and start reading books. It is time to stop watching to talking heads on television and hold conversations. That means listening as well as speaking. A fellow minister once told me, “I don’t read anything I don’t agree with.” Ugh! The mind never grows if it is not challenged with new and conflicting information.
Work. Make yourself useful. Very few people change the world. You probably won’t, either. But you can change your world. It doesn’t matter what your work is. To work diligently and to the best of your ability is the highest and best way to care for spirit, mind and body.
Bill Reagan is executive director of Loaves & Fishes of the Rio Grande Valley.
